Tuesday, March 17, 2015

Ah, spring in the NW, where the sunsets emit a warmth and subtly that hints at the better weather to come. As I stare at the sepia-toned dusk, rain falling instead of crystals, I think on an event that happened a long time ago, in the brittle air of winter. It was an odd event, and one I would rather forget, but light has a way of evoking certain moods, doesn't it?

Monday, March 16, 2015

So the internet is abuzz with the latest literary controversy. As per the controversy, the people attacking it are hardly adding to the debate. Rather it's about personal screes (and oh aren't those addicting?) and people staking their tribal flags. What I've mainly seen—besides the reactions from those directly affected—are people who think it horrendous that he's teaching his MFA students in such a crass manner, and people who think that he's spot on. These views either hold contempt for those who take the MFA route or reject most of the doubt thrown at the students taking the MFA route.

I've talked about the nature of narratives today in a reply to what Franzen was saying about the paucity of potential in the internet. Indeed, for anyone with a grain of imagination, there is much hope in what one can achieve with the internet (or the possibility of the connections within the internet's structures, after all). I will say that given what I've seen, there is very little good coming out of the narratives (contrary to what I said before... and again, from what I've seen). This is not to say that the potential isn't there, simply that it hasn't been realized yet. Also, the internet certainly provides much in terms of valuable information (though much of it, like scientific papers, is behind paywalls), but I'll focus on narratives (in this case comments).

Sunday, March 8, 2015

I'm sorry to have to do this, but with the creation of a fractal story of my own, with Familial madness now destined to be a never ending story, I will have to create story after story that will be able to encompass this entire world. What else does one do then? Well, I need these posts about me to one day become part of that story. You will be seeing more of these.

To all my readers: I am still editing with and dealing with the latest novel. I will be working on When Gods Fail IV to that end and will hopefully wrap up that series as soon as I can. All the best.

Thursday, March 5, 2015

In the horizon of a dusty land there is a new barbarian appearing. And people are scared. The cruelty of ISIS has been revealed to the world and the human beings of civilized nations need to come forth or else be crushed underfoot. The use of the word barbaric recently seems to have gotten out of hand. So I'm tackling this so called confrontation with one of my own. I find the everyday definitions to be too self-serving. Let's see what google has to say about it:

Wednesday, February 25, 2015

I recently returned to New York City and met up with a friend in a cafe on the penumbra of Union Square. It was after New Years, and the air felt brittle and tired. The friend, Ausar, joined me to discuss our fiction works in progress and the conversation moved to the current state of the narrative. It seems something of a cliche to think that the state of the prose is under attack, or that it is (will?) undergoing some great changes due to technology (people still read, it's what they're reading that's changing). Nevertheless we discussed this, discussed the myriad of ways that technology today would take narratives as we know them and turn them into something else, something that perhaps hasn't even been done yet.

Now, when it came to this subject, I sensed that Ausar had a little more insight into the matter given his ability to partake in multiple storytelling forms (whereas I merely focus on one). So I asked if he would be able to write something up for my blog. Luckily, he did. So without any more delays, I present his thoughts below. Enjoy:

Friday, February 13, 2015

Once upon a time I stopped smiling, dear readers. A time when my innocence was robbed. Let me tell you what happened. It’s a horrible thing when a human loses his/her previous underpinnings for their belief-system. Me? I never believed in ghosts before. Sure, I heard the stories, but I didn’t trust what others said about what they saw. I placed them in the same category as those who were abducted by UFOs, or those who believe in conspiracy theories of the kind that had no evidence and had assumed some rich cabal was behind every act of violence in the world. Whenever I’d meet such people they seemed to have the same stupefied look in their eyes. So you can only imagine my surprise when I found out that there were in fact ghosts in the world. I was 33 when this revelation happened, and I hated myself for finding them—but it’s also hard to truly come to terms with the life lived blind.

Monday, February 9, 2015

I was wrong once, and now I try to never repeat that mistake. All the buzz in the news about ISIS and how vile they are, have had me entangled in a few debates. Usually, since I’m not pro-government propaganda, I’m accused of being on ISIS’ side and of changing the subject. That brings me to the topic of wanting to, or needing to, adding context to vs obfuscating a debate.

Thursday, February 5, 2015

As I sit here and listen to rain scratching my window, out here in the North West of our country, I find myself thinking on Iraq. A funny thing, the mind, how it works, for this region of the country, geographically speaking, and certainly weather-wise, is about as far from Iraq as can be. Must be that the news, with all its talk of Islamic extremists is again filtering through my mind no matter what happens.

Tuesday, February 3, 2015

The most recent news on ISIS and their barbaric ways (apparently some odd effort to mimic aspects of bombing itself?), seems to have everyone in a fury. What to make of this group and what seems to be their nihilistic ways, or perhaps their self-defeating ways? Are they truly that despicable? Is it merely a role of propaganda to make them seem this bad? George Packer over at the New Yorker seems to have one take: that it is a death cult bent on some sort of purification. In other words, a rabid dog that needs to be put down.

Saturday, January 24, 2015

A few years ago I thought of something about randomizing certain parts of art and seeing if something beautiful could come up. In other words, one could randomize (with a die or, a smarter way would be with a algorithm) aspects of a painting. A simple one would start at a point and go in 8 directions from a point (using the center of a circle and assigning numbers to each direction and off you go!—you can see it clearly here except that this isn't random but pi being mapped out). One could also randomize the colors or, even, the length or the width of the line (in the previous link, it's easy to see why it's preferable to see a specific color for a specific direction. For pi, it allows us to look for a pattern a little more easily—and see there is none). Thus allowing one to create a great amount of art. At random, of course.

Tuesday, January 20, 2015

I’ll be the first to admit that my video gaming skills are far below the average (as it were, it would seem that I should be one of those who would watch rather than play the damn sport/job) with my hand-eye coordination and speed below most people twice my age. Perhaps I need to stick to downing some vitamin B tablets, or perhaps I should stick to board games such as go and shogi. But I have a knack for running away from where most evidence points.

Sunday, January 11, 2015

A cold and slushy day out there. Just had some coffee to warm me up, and now I'm looking to tackle another day full speed. The mass demonstrations in France seem to have inspired the world. The acts of violence carried out there have been horrific. More horrific, of course, is the lack of insight, or willingness to look at history for an explanation. Instead what we get is: there is no excuse (read: explanation, because apparently many are still infants unwilling to even look at explanations? Or are scared of them, or of adding context? Since when has this atomized view or perception of the world been the standard? I think I missed something, so please do add something in the comments if I am) or there is no time to think this through. This is simply wrong. That it is wrong is obvious to most. That it is a mere grain of sand on a beach of black and white sand is also the point. To not be willing to step back seems to be the what those who want a singular action want. In other words, it's an manipulation of the international psyche.

Saturday, December 20, 2014

This was going to be a post on why I write, (perhaps with an extension to why it was that anyone writes) but as I thought about what it was I write, and I thought about what it was about the reaction to what I write (negative, usually; though we have a tendency to remember the negative) and I decided that, instead of writing about the muse and the process, I should think carefully on why I wrote the specific books that I wrote and what my intentions were. For some reason when a reader calls out my intention as horrendous or as indicative of a flaw in my personality, I feel like I should respond. Not directly. But I should make a stand.

Monday, December 15, 2014

With everything I write, I write to evoke thought in the reader, to change their angle on the world, to change their accepted truths (whether I achieve this, remains to be seen). Now, I understand that most writers would frown upon this, that they would even say that fiction is not to be used as such, and when it is, it’s weaker for it. So be it. I disagree. And the fact that many who say this write the kind of fiction that does not speak to me only goes to further my beliefs. Furthermore, I’m also crossing another line
I’m not supposed to: I’m reacting to reviews (on my book) that I’ve read and that
seem to miss the main point of what I’ve written (I know, I know, the writing is less important than the reading, and once it's been written, it's out of the author's hands...).

Thursday, December 11, 2014

It's rare in life that one admits, to the public, and even less often, to oneself, that they were wrong. And not wrong as a matter of oversight or luck, but because of ignorance. Last week I mentioned, in a review, the writings of Algo. An author who has managed to include in his writings computer-code-like writing, as well as computer codes themselves. I won’t deny that I thought these algorithms to be somewhat overdone. And I didn’t even take a moment to try them out. They were mixed, of course, and the code notes accompanying them were enough to allow even a marginal computer literary person the ability to understand them (I should go even further to point out that Algo came up with pseudo code whereby he had prose that represented something like code that ‘called’ other tidbits of ‘prose’ from a library; this is not what I’m referring to, as that was fine). But I didn’t take it a step further and carry out the code the way it was intended. In other words, I wallowed in my ignorance and didn’t think twice on it.

Don't miss out on the next story or book deal! Join hundreds of other intelligent readers today

Subscribe to my mailing list below

* indicates required

Email Address *

First Name

Last Name

Email Format

html

text

mobile

Nelson Lowhim, veteran, author, blogger, & pursuer of truth

email me at nlowhim [at] gmail [dot] com and Twitter Handle @nlowhim

Enjoyed the blog and writing? Here's a tip jar

About the author

Nelson Lowhim was born in Tanzania where he lived for the first decade of his life. He then lived in India for a year before finally settling in the U.S. in the state of Michigan. From there he joined the Army and served for seven years as an Infantryman in 1st AD then as an Engineer in Fifth Group. After his time in the Army, he came to New York and earned an undergraduate degree from Columbia University. He wrote in the Bronx for a few years and now lives in Spokane, WA, with his better half .

LINKS FOR MY WRITING:

Bitcoin tipjar!

Buy now: Ministry of Bombs: Novel on War on Terror, drones, and spies

Ministry of Bombs: notes

A spy book for those who want a different, deeper perspective.

In the mountains of Yemen, rebellion brews and spits out terror into the world. In Pakistan, a nuclear scientist escapes. And an agent in America, Justice, sees this and understands that the world is in danger. He must find the scientist before the terrorists do. If he doesn't millions will die. Will he save the day? Praise:

"Highly recommended."—"Lowhim impressed me with his writing skills, his ability to captivate the reader, the multi-faceted storyline, the main characters and his supporting characters. He also did something that is rare in a young writer. He caused me to think, to question, to wonder and to do a self-check."—

" I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a good action adventure."—

THE STRUGGLE (Buy this free story today!)

A man in Iraq becomes an insurgent

The Struggle Trilogy (a novel about Baghdad during the Iraq War)

The Struggle Trilogy: Notes and praise

A book about Iraq for anyone who wants the whole story.

"The struggle knows not the logic of morals" is an Arabic saying. This novel looks at the war in Baghdad from the realistic perspective of Americans, Iranians, and the Iraqis.Praise:

"But what truly makes this an "extra ordinary" work, even a work that is in a class of one, is that while serving as a soldier on one side in a war, he acquired a thorough understanding of the thinking and actions of the other side - enough so, to produce this novel."

"This is a very thought provoking novel, and I would highly recommend it to anyone who would like to get another perspective on the Iraq war and those who are interested in military books."

I, Terrorist: The Top Secret confessions of a terrorist.

I, Terrorist (Synopsis)

Names and Places and Accents have been changed to protect the innocent, and the damned.

This is a top secret story stolen from the dark belly of an intelligence agency, not to be named. Many governments do not want you to read this. They threatened several sites and newspapers to prevent you from reading this. So use this chance and read it right now. What follows is not for the foolhardy nor for the light of heart. It's for those who appreciate the truth. Raw, uncensored truth. If you want to hide behind fairy tales, move along, nothing to see here. What this book contains is the confession of one man, a terrorist, who decided to face up to an overwhelming power. Here he will dwell on the things that make some so willing to fight the good, though sometimes losing, fight.

Run (free ebook!!)

Run: notes and accolades

A free short on the psyche of one battered man.Praise:"

The author is actually a very good descriptive writer. If you are a fan of the type of story that has no real concrete information about what is truly going on, then you might very well enjoy this.""Lowhim's descriptives posses an enigma that are both captivating and eerily ominous."

When Gods Fail. A novel about a man turning to his dark side in a post apocalyptic world (free)

When Gods Fail: Notes and Praise

A very dark post apocalyptic novel about man's darkest side.

Exploring a cave, Tom finds himself trapped. Weeks later, he pulls himself out. He can't believe his eyes: there's nothing but ashes for miles. A forest fire?

When he finds people, he learns a terrible truth: the world as he knows it is over... destroyed.

Tom tries to pull this world towards a new civilized order. What he discovers instead is something that will horrify and change him forever. Praise:"

...it does a great job of exploring the depths of self deception and rationalization a person is capable of!"

"Funny how fast people can turn a 180 on their "morals" when faced with survival or adversity. Instinct is always there and a way to reason all of your actions to be the right ones."

When Gods Fail II (The sequel to When Gods Fail is here. Will Tom survive?)

When Gods Fail III: Resurrection

Satan's Plea

Satan's Plea: Notes and Praise

This short is a letter from Satan to the World.

The battle between good and evil, God and Satan. But is everything we know about this struggle a matter of propaganda?

Be careful... you might find yourself on the wrong side.Praise:"

It's so damn you good it sticks with you for awhile."

To Love a Rat

To Love a Rat: Notes

A harsh book about a double agent in Iraq.

Joe, a soldier, meets a woman while on a deployment in Iraq. Soon he's embroiled in a forbidden affair, and he finds himself making the most difficult decision in his life.

Kill Writer

Kill Writer: Notes

A quick read about soldiers and the tough decisions made.Jim is a soldier in the most elite unit in the American military. Black ops. One day he's handed a mission: easy kill. He stares at the folder. He knows the man. This isn't right.

He sets out to discover the truth, and realizes that the choice he has to make may be the hardest one of his life.